


Hanging on Your Tips

by Nyx Nur (Pamndora)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alive Laura Hale, Ballet, Dancer Laura, Dancer Stiles, I'm researching, M/M, Not that accurate description of ballet, Photographer Derek, Photography
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-02 13:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pamndora/pseuds/Nyx%20Nur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hale is a ballet instructor for a big studio in San Francisco, she lives with her brother Derek Hale, photographer.<br/>Derek visits Laura's studio for a few shoots, one of the students there has his attention.<br/>Laura wants to help and so does all their family, how will that work out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Frame

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear readers,  
> This is not very usual for me... I like writing shorter fics usually but last night I was hit with inspiration to write this and so I did. The descriptions of poses and dances and such will probably be a little weird, but I just don't know how to make them any better.  
> Chapters will be posted around a week after each other.  
> Hope you like it, have at it, the first chapter of "Hanging on Your Tips"!  
> -Nur

The Hale house was quiet, the silence sent a shiver down her spine. Unusually quiet for a Friday night, she noted as she opened the door and braced herself for any surprises. There were none. The house was empty and just as she had left it. Except... for that very fat envelope on her coffee table. Huh.

Dropping her things by the entrance she quickly made her way into the apartment, jumping over the back of the couch and landing expertly on her toes. She picked the envelope and opened it to find a photo album and a note. Of course.

'I forgot to deliver these before, hope you like them,

Love, D.

PS: The lighting wasn't that great but I tried working

some miracles. '

Picking up her phone she quickly texted her brother. ' Thanks, it was really sweet of you Der! But try to wait and hand it to me IN PERSON next time!!' pocketing her phone she proceeded to sit down and look throgh the photos.

Derek was really good with a camera, and as a good sister Laura had to stimulate his talent by giving him copious almounts of things to photograph. And that was no problem as she was one of the instructors for over fifty ballet prodigies.

Her phone rang once a suave notification sound, she had just recieved a message. She hummed as she traced the ballerina's leg, still a bit crooked, but beautiful to the untrained eyes. Picking up her phone there was Derek's response.

'Couldn't stay for long, had a meeting at three.' she smirked and started tapping again.

'A meeting you say. I'm not right to assume it involved coffee, maybe brownies, and your new "personal model", am I?' As Laura put down her phone she envisioned her brother reading that, it was a matter of time. Five minutes at most and he'd either text or call her.

Turning back to the album she recognized one of her favorite students, the boy seemed worthless if you didn't take the time to look underneath all the layers of comics, movies, and sarcasm, to get to the genius hidden away.

In this specific photo he was doing an arabesque, all his weigh on his left foot, his right leg parallel to the ground, left arm to the ceiling, and right arm, like his leg turned back. It seemed like all his body was being stretched.

His face was tremendously calm, as he never was outside of class, his mind for once focused on one thing, not falling. Stiles Stilinski, the best of her male dancers. A great student, friend and perhaps even lover, not like Laura would know, but from all the bending he could do...well, one can only wonder.

Derek's next message came as she turned the page to find a photo of herself. She was sporting an easy going smile and performing an easy spin, a fouetté. Her smirk dropped a bit as she realized... she was getting old. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and focus on the more pressing matter of his brother's nonexistent social life, she grabbed her phone.

'Laura, you do understand what a meeting is, right?' At least she could always trust her brother to turn some light teasing into serious business in a flash.

'Hey, lighten up! I'm sure whoever you had this meeting with is thinking about a way to have another one in some more... comfortable place and clothes. Hmm... maybe they don't even want the clothes.' She sent quickly, her uncle would be so proud.

Once again turning back to the album Laura turned back to Stiles' photo, his pose was really good, maybe working on the hands a little more, but Stiles' form was really gorgeous, she was teased for staring sometimes... It's just something about male dancers that drove all the instructors crazy.

When her phone rang a long howling wolf was heard, custom Derek ringtone. Lone wolf as he was. Derek wouldn't risk texting her back, he liked talking better, as weird as that may sound. Some of her friends in high school had questioned her about him, asking if he was mute or simply anti-social. And he hadn't changed, obviously, he had said something about old habits, but she had no time for his shameless lies.

"Hey Der-bear, how did your meeting go?" She asked in a joyful voice.

"Laura, stop. Just don't." He sighed long and deep. "It was just this guy asking me to be the photographer for a wedding." He sound slightly irritated at that.

She wondered about that a bit and so she asked. "But what's the problem with that? You're used to those, right?"

He was quiet for a while and Laura could hear as he scratched his jaw, he was thinking. "Yeah, but I just..." he sighed "I wasn't expecting that."

So he did have some expectations about it. The corners of her mouth tugged up a bit at that."Then what did you expect, Der?" she got up to grab a glass of water "Some event, or birthday party or... ?"

"I don't know... maybe a portfolio, for some job application or something?" She could hear more scratching, 'Pensive Times with Derek Hale' the new TV show. "He... uh... he was performing at your academy the other day."

She didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue. She could feel he had something to say, he need time. With Derek it was all about the time. And he was pacing around... Zeus above us all, please break this silence.

"You know, I guess I just wanted to watch him perform again."A stop. "There was just something about him, it was captivating."

She considered that new information. "If you want to watch him practice again I can just have you over at the studio when he's there."

He groaned. "Laura, you don't have to do that, really. He said we could meet again next week."

"Derek! Oh my- are you for real?" Now she was mad. How could she have a brother like that? "You know it's not a problem if you watch while they dance, they're used to it!" she huffed, "Let's see... You were here last Saturday, right?" A low affirmative hum. "Great! You just have to come over tomorrow then! Hah, how simple was that?"

"Thanks Laur, what do you want for dinner?" Ha, that was very Derekesque buying dinner as a payback.

"Hmm, I don't know Der, how about Erica's spaghetti? And ask her for some extra meatballs, hers are delicious." Her mouth watered at the memory of the perfect pasta.

"Sure, be there soon." And she was all by her lonesome again.

Laura got up from the stool she sat on and went upstairs for a shower. Derek would take a while and her muscles could do with some warm water and relaxing.

o ᵜ o

Derek was setting the table when she got out of her room, pajamas on and towel wrapped around her head. He looked up and made a face, it was probably because of the towel, but she let it slip. Coming over to help him. 

They ate in silence, only interrupted by Laura's cheer when Derek dumped three more meatballs on her plate. Weird, he usually ate all of his.

"So, dear brother," she stopped to take a sip of her water."Who is this mystery boy? Did you take his picture last time?"

Derek let the fork he was soaping fall back into the sink as he turned around to glare at Laura. "I already told you, it's not like that... But yeah, I think there're some photos of him in there." he pointed the wet rag in his hand to the living room. Of course, the album! She got up and opened it again.

"A boy, that could have caught your attention, huh?" She counted the boys, twelve photographs, four models. She hummed and scanned the photos. Jackson, Danny, Stiles, and Isaac. "Well, at least you have good taste, those are some of my best dancers."

He sat beside her and just observed as Laura ran her nails softly over their legs or back, she had a thing for the curves or lack of them in ballet. "What do you think of them?" He asked tapping the photo she was currently examining to get her attention.

"Oh, they're good, really good." She flipped back to her photo,"Just make sure to always get my good side, okay?" She turned to Derek to find him smirking. She frowned in response,"You know my beauty is what pays our bills, so shut it."

He was about to get up when Laura launched herself at him, "Oh no, you don't." She had the Hale smile on, "You were obviously avoiding the subject baby bro, who's the guy?"

His smirk dropped as he frowned, getting his sister involved was never good. "Okay, see... that's why I didn't want to tell you before. I knew you'd have Uncle Peter's smile on, stop it. I don't want your help with this."

She sat up and glared. "I was just going to help speed things up a little, you know how I get with those boring pining-all-the-time romantic novels." She sighed and got up, her arms crossed over her breast, "Alright, if you don't want my help it's okay. I won't help you. Just a hint, don't go for Jackson, he's an asshole AND has a girlfriend. So... yeah."

Laura was not one for sulking or ignoring, so she grabbed a packet of microwaveable popcorn and threw it at Derek."You make those I'll go get my laptop, we're watching the new Superman movie. And no, you don't get a say on that."

And so the night progressed with no more ballet talk or mystery guy talk, only battle scenes and stupidly good looking aliens.


	2. The Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I edited chapter one quiet heavily, for this chapter to be well understood I advise you go read it again.
> 
> I dislike chapter summaries almost as much as I dislike some of my classmates. So, there'll be a phrase.
> 
> The lights, the time, the friends.

They got to the studio in time for Laura to stretch and exercise some before class. She had given Derek instructions on how to handle the small spotlights they had for special performances. And as she'd said he could go crazy with it and so he did.

In about twenty minutes he had a nice setup for some better shots, and his heartbeat started picking up when Laura said she'd bring the little devils in. Derek turned away from the door getting busy with the already perfectly placed light. He caught the end of Laura's sentence as she let the students inside.

"..not like he'll bite much." He must have done some pretty horrible things in past lives to deserve his sister. Why must she be like that?

Leaving the lights he turned around to grab his camera and got a face-full of strawberry blonde hair. He blinked startled with the sudden appearance right in front of him and with the very heavy smell of perfume. He muttered, "- the fuck?" and looked at the girl, if memory had it right she was Lisa- no, uh... Lydia-? Yeah, Lydia.

Lydia was staring at him, her full lips set in a straight line. He was being evaluated. God, no. He took his camera up and snapped a photo of her. She was startled out of her staring and Laura walked over to them.  
"Lydia Martin meet 'Quick Trigger' Derek Hale, my wonderful, very pleasant, brother." She said as her elbow made contact with his left arm.

He nodded at her and she offered her hand palm down. Derek was a bit annoyed by that but begrudgingly took her hand in his and merely even brushed her knuckles with his lips.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Derek." she said flashing him a full smile, "Hope you enjoy the show again today." she completed before turning around to stand beside Jackson.

He looked at Laura eyebrows up, questioning."She's like that, don't worry." and she turned to the sound system to get it started. Of course it wasn't as involving as the orchestra would be, but it was good enough for practice.

After about an hour of the same song playing over and over Derek decided to take a break joining Laura at the sidelines. She was standing up watching carefully and clapping her hands twice whenever she wanted them to stop. And did they stop! They looked like marble statues a rich old guy would use to decorate his garden.

One of the times she had asked for attention he could feel she was a little annoyed by something. Some of the girls were in the middle of their fouettes as they stopped coming down from the tips of their toes.

"What's up?" he asked as she started walking towards the longest column of girls, all of them staring forwards as if she wasn't there. And did Derek know that walk, that was the Disapproving Hale Walk, whoever was in trouble was in for an ear-full of disappointed words.

She stopped beside two boys, twins he noted suddenly. Eyeing them up and down she stood with her feet forming a 180 degree angle, hands on her hips. "What did I tell you about changing places?" She patted their shoulders. "Do you think it's funny? Are you by chance trying to impress anyone? Because those, Ethan," she said pointing to the first boy- Ethan's shoes, "are your shoes, but those, are Aiden's clothes."

She took a step back turning around and coming back to stand beside me. "Go change, both of you, and I hope that doesn't happen again." The boys made quick work of getting to the changing rooms. "The rest of you, back to position, we're starting again." She turned around and scanned the room for any extras, she found three "Whoever has their flats on get on stage, please."

A tanned boy got up and stretched quickly before going over to Ethan's place and Isaac got up and promptly took Aiden's place. And after that was all done she restarted the song again. Derek was wondering how Laura knew that, but he wasn't that interested so he didn't ask.

Two more repetitions and Laura decided they were done with that bit. Instead of moving on to the next scene she decided to skip directly to the last scene, a scene that involved only one dancer. He found that odd, but she reassured him it'd work, something about everyone wanting to perform that piece.

Isaac was in line but apparently he had something to discuss with Laura first as he swiftly made his way to them. "Laura, do you by chance know when Stiles and Scott are showing up? They didn't tell me they'd be late or not showing up, so..."

"Oh, don't worry Isaac, those dorks are probably buying food somewhere." She smiled up at him and he laughed she looked at me "I swear I have no idea how they keep in shape."

I smiled slightly looking at the very sweaty bodies on line "I can't even start imagining how."

They all laughed lowly for a while and Laura pushed Isaac off telling him to go get ready. She got up and went over to the others and told them how they'd go about it. That was when two huffing boys came inside hands on their knees heads down breathing hard.

Laura scolded the two for being an hour and a half late, they had missed a half of their time and were told to stay for thirty minutes after class to practice by themselves. Derek could see their mother now that he looked at Laura... God, she was getting old!

They got in line and started having a hushed conversation, probably trying to blame each other for their lateness. 

As Laura announced the start of their new scene Derek got back to his camera. Each student would have ten photos, he decided after getting the hang of the moves and positions, that was good enough the capture all the good moments.

Laura was standing behind him and whispering comments like "No, not with that face.", or "What are your fingers doing?", or "When did you unlearn how to stand en pointe?", or others more. There were a few praises, "Good, keep your hand like that and bend- yes, beautiful!", or "Oh my Odin, someone has been working their legs.", but she always clapped, not the same for all, but she did.

As it was Stiles' turn Derek had his trigger ready for maybe one or five extra photos, not that he'd tell anyone.

"Stiles," Laura called as he took his place. "show me the best you can do boy, impress Mama."

Stiles' smile fell a bit at that and Derek wondered if he was feeling bad for Laura's very open teasing. His eyes were trained on him as the music started playing and maybe Laura was right, maybe male dancers were more interesting to watch, or maybe it was just... him.

Laura held her tongue for his entire performance and as it came to an end she clapped happily taking three quick steps to the center of the stage where he was sitting down. "That's my boy!" she said as she draped herself over him like a protective blanket.

Derek could feel the other students standing around and some of them were side eyeing them a bit but were clapping all the same. Laura got up and pulled Stiles up with her. She had _that_ smile on and she was coming his way, he frowned.

She stood behind Derek and put her hands on his shoulders,"Stiles, this is my very han-"

He cut her off with a well timed violent shrug,"-dy younger brother, Derek. Yeah, we've met before, Laura." Stiles had tilted his head to the right and looked amused at the scene.

She slapped Derek's arm, "How come I did not know of this?" her eyes showed a tad bit of hurt.

Derek sighed grabbed Laura's hand and held a finger up to Stiles so he'd wait a moment. Dragging Laura was an easy job, once they were far enough that Stiles wouldn't hear he span his sister around to face her.

"Okay, keep quiet and listen." She nodded zipping her mouth. "Remember I mentioned a meeting? Yeah, it was with Stiles." She opened her mouth to make a remark but was stopped with a glare and a flare of nostrils, okay, not a time for teasing. "And, I didn't want you to know because I knew you'd be weird about it."

He turned around walking back to Stiles and Laura followed him, "But Der-" a very irritated brother turned around and she stopped in her tracks. If the direct approach wasn't working she was going to find informants.

o ᵜ o 

 

The boys were talking about some flowers and such things, those were probably for the wedding. "The wedding!" She whisper-shouted, she wandered around looking for Scott, her line of thought was pretty direct. If Stiles knew who was getting married the probability of Scott also know was almost 100%.

"Hello there, Scotty, can I ask you something?" She said sliding beside the boy on one of the benches.

He looked at her, he had just taken this seat and was really hoping to get some of his Oreo's before going back on stage. "Uh, sure, what do you wanna know?"

She smiled sweetly, way too sweetly, at him, "You see, I heard Stiles mentioning something about his friend's wedding, and I was wondering, who is going to get married?"

"Oh, right! That'd be Erica. She used to dance with us, before you came, but she had to stop her career in toddler phase, long story that one." He looked to the opposite but his mind was far away, he was revisiting those moments, "So yeah, now she works for her fiance in a restaurant."

"Erica, who used to be a ballerina, who now cooks the best meatballs there will ever be?" She asked. Could it be that their Erica was the same Erica as Scott's?

"Yes! Oh, her meatballs are delicious, and the meatloaf." Laura could swear Scott was drooling, but she could only stare.

"Thanks Scott!" She said, before running back to her place she turned around and snapped her fingers in front of him, he shook his head and looked up at her "And work harder on your arms, Allison isn't that hard to lift."

She had people, or actually just one person, to text. But that would have to wait, the was just starting to form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!  
> This one was quiet a fast one and I really hope I get the pacing of the story right. I don't want to end it too soon or elongate it needlessly.  
> Same as last time, please leave a comment if you have anything to say, how I can make improvements, if I forgot to edit something, and on and on...


	3. Beans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee, band.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> I've just finished this third chapter, even though it's still under construction...  
> Story: I thought my computer had died forever, but thankfully it was all fine, got him back just yesterday and started working on this right away. Hope you like this chapter, read on.  
> Nyx

"Sorry about that," Derek said approaching Stiles again, "Laura is just..." and he sighed annoyed.

"Oh, it's okay. Totally get it," Stiles said waving his hand to dismiss the thought,"I may not have siblings, but I have friends." his smile was easy and Derek felt his lips mimicking.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Stiles asked gesturing to the room around them, "I mean, not like I'm not happy for seeing you here, it's just I thought..." he trailed off a soft blush creeping over his cheeks.

"Well, Laura asked me to come today." He answered, stopping himself from saying anything he might regret.

Stiles hummed in understanding and put a hand up grabbing at his neck, "Is our... meeting still up? I mean, if you have anything else to do I..."

"Stiles," Derek cut him off, "Don't worry about it, we'll have coffee, actually if you have some time after this we could... go." He said as smoothly as possibly, he wasn't blushing, but his heart was beating a bit too fast.

Stiles was fumbling with his words arms flailing slightly, but after a very firm blink and a quick flick of his neck he grinned at Derek and nodded, "Sure, yeah, I have lots of free time after this."

At that moment Derek noticed Lydia was standing behind Stiles, after his response she approached, slowly placing a hand on Stiles' arm to get his attention. Her eyes were sharp, that was something he found weird, such a small seemingly harmless human having such an intense look, she looked as dangerous as Laura sometimes.

After a sole shudder Derek noticed Stiles had turned away and was talking to her in hushed words, his gestures were still as open as always. Her eyes weren't on Stiles, she was focused on the dark and handsome photographer behind him. He was feeling exposed somehow and decided a great way to stop her would be the same as the first.

Up the lens go, focus, and click. Lydia's glare hardens, but he doesn't stop, he takes several pictures instead. When her hand is millimeters from the lens he just takes a good step back and grins, camera forgotten for a while.

"You know Hale, your need to photograph me is unsettling," She said, hands on her hips, lips once again set in a hard line.

"Well, Martin, your urge to glare as soon as you see me is really amusing," He said in reply tucking his camera away for the moment.

"Guys, is everything okay?" Stiles was standing aside, a strange look on his face.

"It's nothing, Stiles." they say at the same time and turn to glare at each other again.

"O...kay," he says turning around and back again, "I'll just go over there talk to Scott, catch you later Derek."

Lydia glared for a minute more, as if to say she wasn't done with him yet, flipped her hair over her shoulder in an exaggerated way and walked to Allison, one of the new additions to the class.

He was shaken by that, in his mind the Martin girl had nothing to do with him, but that was also something for another time, he had some albums to deliver around town and the practice would be going for another hour and a half, he just had to tell Laura he'd be back and- Laura was no where to be found.

o ᵜ o 

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm hurt, Erica!" Laura said as her friend picked up.

"And hello to you too. What's wrong?" Laura could hear a deep laugh from the other end, it was Boyd, for sure, "I'm sure we've been communicating just right."

"Yeah, sure despite the fact I didn't know you were going to get married!" She hissed that, outraged.

"Oh my God! it was Scott, wasn't it?" the sighed that followed showed Erica was irritated by that. "Okay, Laura, calm down."

Hale blood was quick to boil, her breathing evened out and she waited for Erica's explanation. "Hmm."

The change in her voice showed she was in a more closed space, "Scott saw Boyd proposing, that's why he knew." she said slowly, "Problem is he can't keep his mouth shut, so now pretty much everyone knows about it," she sighed, but quickly kept talking, cutting Laura off, "And before you ask again, I didn't tell you because it happened last week, and business has been crazy, you know how it is, Christmas is close and all. I'm sorry for not telling you, but you're my bridesmaid, viva you!"

"That's so not cutting you off form giving me all the details, everything, I must know everything, when was this? And more importantly, why did Stiles ask my brother to be there and not me?" She said it all in one breath sniffling at the end of the sentence, "And of course I'm your bridesmaid! Who else would it be? Isaac?"

They both laughed at that, Erica told Laura everything about the engagement and how Boyd was really nervous about it and how the night had the perfect end after that, she omitted some things, but it was mostly the pure facts.

A few minutes later Laura could hear a knock and Boyd's voice, "Well, break is over, I have to get back to my stove now, I'll call you back later and we can discuss dresses. Bye." and she hang up.

Laura got to the conclusion that not all had gone wrong, now she just had a whole lot of planning to do... for Christmas, of course.Mistletoe to place expertly, people to invite, brothers to dress up, family to pick up, and the list goes on and on...

Their break had been quiet long, she noticed once she looked at the time, there was about an hour left of practice, she had to get back on place and start the music up again for more repetitions and more guiding to be done.

o ᵜ o 

"I give up," Derek muttered after ten minutes of fruitlessly looking for Laura. He left her a note and went about his business, setting an alarm for ten minutes before five, when practice should be over.

The alarm went off right as Derek closed the door to another house, it's special Christmas decorations making the Camaro hard to spot from the door. He quickly made his way back to the car and, while still following speed limits, he made his way back to the studio.

As it turned out it was almost impossible to make his way back in ten minutes, he even took all the shortcuts and the twenty minutes he took to get there made him feel a bit bad. Thoughts of how Stiles wouldn't be there crowded his mind, but on he went and through the door and into an almost empty, but very lively room.

Laura's voice was the first thing he heard, "Another!" she was being loud, very loud, "Did I stutter, Scott? Another!" his feet took him to her and he stood there just staring at her like she was crazy before turning to the stage.

Stiles and Scott were the only ones left, they were running in circles beside each other, once they got to the center of the stage Laura would scream for, "Another!" and they would both do a grand jeté; a split leap.

Stiles' legs were so beautiful, Derek was entranced. Laura's smirk sprouted when she glanced at her brother. He was obviously watching Stiles, she found it cute, so she decided her little monkeys needed to execute another five leaps before changing moves.

Once Laura told them to take a minute to breath Scott just fell to the ground, and Stiles just stood there, his chest moving up and down slowly as he got his heartbeat under control, Derek decided he most definitely was not staring.

Laura glanced at him just to check if he had anything to say, but she could see her brother's mind was focused in other, more important, things. She scratched her chin evilly, think of a nice way to make them pay for being late to class.

"Fouettes!" she said, it was the best idea to come to mind, Scott groaned and Stiles just stretched his back before standing to the left of the stage. "Come on Scott, if you get up I'll pay your next date with Allison." Scott immediately sat up and stared at her wide eyed, "Yeah, we all know. Good job. Now, fouettes."

Once Laura thought they had paid for their little scene earlier she let them go and get changed, Derek was starting to think of reasons why Stiles would ditch their coffee, but stopped himself because Laura was looking at him funny. He grabbed his things, packed his tripod and sat waiting for his Prince Charming to come out of the changing room.

"You can take the Camaro," Laura said, suddenly breaking the silence, "I'll stop by Erica's on my way home, I'll call if I need anything."

He just looked at her one eyebrow up, finding her offer weird, but nodded accepting it anyway.

As they reemerged from the Doors of Darkness Derek got up and Stiles stood beside him, "So, still up for that coffee?" Derek asked grinning.

"Oh, yes! More than ever, I might go with hot chocolate instead, but still, I want me some nice warm beverage." He said pulling on his red sweater.

"Good, come on." and so they were out the door, Laura took a picture sending it over to Erica's phone with the caption "W.I.P."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think?  
> Any major errors? Typos? Forgot to mention a specific drink for Derek?  
> Leave a comment, I read and reply to all of them.  
> Shy? You can also find me on Tumblr, link is on my profile.  
> Bye bye  
> Nur


	4. Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what happened, I needed to update this, but the evolution of this story is so slow, it's almost Valentinés day and I'm here...save me.
> 
> Glass, chips, carrots.

They were inside a small café, a block from the studio, warm beverage in hand, Stiles was very content with his hot chocolate, and Derek could’ve sworn he’d heard the boy moan, but he was too distracted to even comment.

They were both quiet for a few minutes just eating and drinking and trying to stealthily look at the other, once Derek caught Stiles glance and locked their eyes.

“What?” he asked arching an eyebrow.

Stiles puts his cup down and starts gesturing, “You know, I was just…” he paused and huffed, “Your sister is evil. She’s not simply bad, she wants to see me dead someday, I swear.”

“She wants to see you dead? Yeah, right.” Derek may agree with Stiles, but he’s not the one his sister is trying to kill, not being the huge fangirl she is.

“Yeah!” Stiles exclaimed after taking a drink, “Dude, did you see what she had us do today? Do you think that is something a normal, good person, would do?”

Derek considered that for a moment while he chewed his lemon tart, “I guess you’re right, but you did get there late. And not a five minutes late, you were an hour and a half late, Stiles.”

“Well, excuse you, Mr. Clockwork I was doing things, like, eating and maybe sleeping.” Stiles’ cheeks were dusted with pink and his fingers were tapping the side of the table.

Derek just laughed at that and Stiles looked up through his lashes to watch the other man. That face gave Derek the urge to just move forward and give Stiles a kiss.

Instead of doing that he got his phone out and pretending to be texting took a photo of Stiles’ profile. He made sure to get the focus right even if it was only a phone camera it would do.

“I see what you did there.” Stiles said as he pointed to something behind Derek, as he turned around to see what Stiles had pointed out he looked at a very large, much clean, and so effectively reflective window.

“Fuck.” He muttered as he put a hand to his face, he could feel his cheeks reddening slowly as he dropped his phone on the table.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I know I’m a great model.” Stiles said as he flicked Derek’s hand. The boy grabbed the phone and zoomed in on the picture turning the phone to Derek with his eyes framed by big lashes, and glasses, filled the screen. “See? Handsome.”

Derek took the phone and dragged the image around to show different points of Stiles’ face. Once he was done he pocketed his phone again and looked up at a grinning Stiles, he had his hands under his chin making a cute face.

“You know, you should totally give me your number.” He said, patting his pockets to find his phone, “So I can let you know more about Erica’s wedding plans, ask you to take some photos for me, or just, you know… Talk, about non-specific things, that’d be nice too.” He ended in a rush, trying but failing to be smooth.

“Yeah, sure. That’d be good.” Derek said as he exchanged phones with Stiles to save his own number to the other’s contacts.

Once they were both done talking, and with their food, they left to stand awkwardly in front of the shop. Stiles looked confused and uncertain, Derek’s mind provided many reasons why Stiles wouldn’t want to go home with him, but Derek just jumped all the insecurity barriers and picked his keys from his pocket.

“I can give you a ride if you want.” He said offhandedly, trying to look calm and composed.

“Oh.” As he turned around to face Derek again Stiles was grinning, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

As they got to Stiles’ place he jumped out of the car and said a quick “Bye!” before running, and almost falling on his ass, to his door. With a quick wave he was inside and Derek was driving home.

o ᵜ o

Getting home was good, at first, it always felt safe and Derek loved that feeling, he did not love however the sound of his sister’s laughter coming from the kitchen, it sounded maniacal.

“Derek!” She exclaimed as she threw her arms out and hugged him fiercely. “So, how was your date?”

He sighed heavily, but of course she’d start pestering him the moment he stepped inside. He ignored her and shrugged her arms away from him. He walked up to the couch and carefully placed his camera bag there before turning around to face Laura.

She was holding something behind her back and it looked really suspicious to Derek, maybe she was waiting to throw something at him or hand him another unnecessary miniature old-school camera.

“Okay Laura, what do you want?” He asked crossing his arms over his chest. “I have work to do.”

“Well, I was just asking you how your date with Stiles went, but you seem not to want to tell me anything about it.” She said gesturing with one of her hands the other holding whatever it was she had behind her back.

“It wasn’t a date, we just had some coffee and talked.” He said trying to get out of the situation the faster he could.

“Why? That’s so boring, are you sure Stiles didn’t leave you with a mannequin? I don’t think he could handle being with your silent self for more than five minutes.” She said pouting slightly, Derek could have felt offended by that, but he was sure Stiles was not bored with their afternoon… not-date.

“Anyway, Lydia will be disappointed by this, you know?” She continued walking off to the kitchen, “She lost some good money and-” She kept talking, but he ignored her anyway, not interested on her gossip.

Derek turned his computer on and got the camera disk imported to a new folder so he could start editing the photos, it would take a while to get that done though, so he opened his browser to check his e-mails.

‘Hello dears,  
I just wanted to remind you to buy me some cherries, pineapple, and that chocolate we used last year for the cookies.  
See you in a week,  
Love, Mom’

He scratched his jaw in thought, he made plans to go to the grocery store the next day, if he didn’t buy those ingredients his mom would be very disappointed, that was something he didn’t want her to be right before Christmas.

He proceeded to read through pages of spam before closing his browser and opening his new folder full of the day’s photos.

The next two hours were spent looking at all the good, the bad, and the great, photos. He made different folders for the photos he would keep, and the ones he would consider. Once that was done and he had deleted over half the photos he simply stood up and fell back onto his bed.

o ᵜ o

Derek woke up half an hour later with a knock on his door. Laura opened the door with a smile on her face and went up to her brother’s bed to sit beside him.

“Hey, sorry about earlier. I know I can be annoying sometimes.” She said looking down at him, he was making a confused face.

“Wha-?” he left it at that bringing an arm up to cover his eyes from the bright light overhead. None of this made sense to him.

“Anyway, come have dinner,” she said getting up and moving towards the door, “I made you that vegetable soup you like so much.”

Derek hummed in answer and sat up. Laura chuckled and left the room leaving the door open behind her; he could then smell the divine soup and made his way to the kitchen.  
The sound of a -bleep- indicated he had a new message, fumbling with his phone he opened the message. ‘ Thanks for the coffee. –Stiles’

Before his brain was completely awake he answered. ‘I know it’s you Stiles, I have your number, remember?’

Laura handed him the plate of soup and looked down to see his phone, she got a good feeling of who it was he was texting, but she had to ask. “So, who are you texting?”

“Stiles.” He answered in a mumble before devouring his food, it was warm and taste almost perfect, his mother used to make it for him on Thursdays when he came home late from basketball practice, but Laura’s version lacked something essential.

Laura grabbed his phone from the table while he was distracted with the food. “It says here you have a new message, let’s see.” She opened the message and read it out loud, “Wow, that was so sweet Derek.” She giggled at that and put the phone down again. “I don’t even have to read the other messages to know that was sarcasm. Way to go, Der.”

Derek groaned and threw his phone away.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again,  
> How did you like that piece? Got any comments? Please do leave them, I want to know how I can improve and be the best I can!  
> Thank you very much for reading, I'm out.  
> -Nyx


End file.
